JEFF BEZOS,
AMAZON chief executive and world’s richest man, will donate US$10 billion (AU$15 billion) to global warming solutions through a new initiative - the Bezos Earth Fund.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet,” @jeffbezos announced in an Instagram post on Monday. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The money will be donated via grants to scientists, activists, non-government organisations or “any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect that natural world,” he wrote.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Amazon has long been pressured from environmental groups and its own employees to address its huge carbon footprint, which totalled a mega 44.4 million metric tonnes of CO2 in 2018.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
That puts
Amazon “in the top 150 or 200 emitters in the world,” says Bruno Sarda, president of CDP North America, an organisation that encourages carbon disclosures, reports The New York Times.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In September, Bezos announced @
Amazon’s Climate Pledge - the goal of carbon neutrality by 2040 - however the company’s employees have agitated for further meaningful action, such as blocking cloud computing services for the oil and gas industry.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀